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Suggested Readings: Nehemiah 4, Romans 8:14-17, Hebrews 11
Nehemiah 4 is an amazing illustration of solid faith. There was great ridicule of and opposition to the rebuilding of the walls in Jerusalem. The people remained faithful even when the Ammonites, the Arabs, the men of Ashdod, Sanballat, and Tobiah plotted and threatened to fight against Jerusalem (v.7-9). They remained faithful when the strength of the laborers were giving out and they remained faithful when all the rubble made it seem impossible to rebuild the wall (vs. 10). But under the leadership and encouragement of Nehemiah, the people continued to build. They remained. They remembered the Lord, who is great and awesome (v.14). They went back to work against the insurmountable odds. They were prepared to fight, if necessary, and they relied on God to fight for them (v.20-23).
Walking in faith and in step with the Spirit, is like rebuilding that wall. There will be great opposition to your faithful, spirit-led lifestyle. There will be many who will ridicule, scoff, and laugh at it. The enemy will look for the exposed places to attack (vs.13). There will be times when you feel like you're not getting anywhere. There most certainly will be times when you'll have to stand guard and be prepared to defend your faith. And like the Israelites in Nehemiah 4, there will be times when you feel your strength is giving out because living by faith takes unnatural intention and absolutely no logic.
So why would one choose to live by faith and by the Spirit? Because the Lord is great and awesome (v.14), because God will fight for us (v.20), and because He promised to give us success (Nehemiah 2:20).
We can have the confidence that when we choose to live by faith and by the Spirit, we belong to God (see Romans 8:14-17), we're not in this alone, and we will receive all that has been promised.
Go forward, then, in faith with the power of the Holy Spirit filling you and strengthening you. Go forward to keep building and defending your solid wall of faith built on the Rock, our God, with Jesus as the Cornerstone. It will be worth it.
"So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart."
~Nehemiah 4:6
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